Method of tenderizing food



April 15, 1958 1.. a. SIMJIAN 2,330,912

METHOD OF TENDERIZING FOOD Original Filed June 11, 1953 FIG. 2

FIG. 3 l6 Generator &

' LUT'HER e. SIMJIAN INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY United States Patent METHOD or TENDERIZING noon Luther G.Simjian, Greenwich, Conn., assiguor to The Reflectone Corporation,Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Originalapplication June11, 1953, Serial No. 361,051. Divided and this application September 30,1955, Serial No. 537,720

Claims. (Cl. 99-217) This is a divisional application of my copendingapplication for Letters Patent, Serial Number 361,051, filed June 11,1953, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to a method and means for tenderizingfood, making it more palatable and digestible. It has particularreference to the application of high frequency mechanical vibrations tofood products which have been frozen to a' rigid state.

It is well known that the toughness found in many cuts of meat is due tohard fibers which are present in the meat and which are not easily actedupon by the application of heat. It is also well known that certaintypes of fruit such as grapefruit and oranges are somewhat indigestiblebecause of numerous tough fibers which are always present in certainvarieties of this fruit. Meat may be tenden'zed by excessive mechanicalmanipulation by pounding with a hammer or other blunt objects. Thismethod is not entirely successful and has the disadvantage of distortingthe meat and squeezing out many of the meat juices. The presentinvention employs mechanical movement to break the tough fibers in thefood but this is done when the food is in a rigid frozen state so thatthe shape of the article is not changed and none of the juices are lost.The mechanical vibration necessary is obtained by a transducer which isactuated by electrical energy to produce sound energy in the audible orinaudible frequency range.

One of the objects of thisinvention is to provide an improved foodtenderizer which avoids one or more of the disadvantages and limitationsof prior art arrangements.

Another object of the invention is to provide a structure fortenderizing food which is convenient and can be operated byinexperienced personnel.

Another object of the invention is to provide a food tenderizer whichwill consume a comparatively short time for the tenderizing operation.

Another object of the invention is to tenderize food while still frozen,thereby eliminating the possibility of food spoilage.

One feature of the invention includes a clamping device which may beclamped on to the end of a frozen portion of food. The clamping deviceis coupled to a transducer which applies powerful high frequencyvibrations to the clamp and the food.

Another feature of the invention includes the method of submergingfrozen food articles in a tank of liquid and then applying highfrequency mechanical vibrations to the liquid.

A third feature of the invention comprises a multiple applicator whichcan be applied to irregular articles of food, such as frozen meat, andthen applying magnetostrictive energy to each of the applicators by asource of high frequency energy.

For a better understanding of the present invention together with otherand further objects thereof, reference is made to the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

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Fig. 1 is a side view of a portion of frozen meat held 7 in a clamp.

Fig. 2 is a detailed cross sectional view of the clamp arrangement andindicates one means for transforming high frequency electrical energyinto vibrations which can be applied to large portions of meat.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a tank for frozen food objects containinga transducer at one side thereof.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a multiple applicator for applying highfrequency vibrations to a number of areas on a frozen food object.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the multiple applicator shown in Fig. 4 andshows the disposition of the applicators.

Referring now to Figs. l and 2, an apparatus is illustrated by which thepreferred method of tenderizing is performed. The tenderizer includes aclamp 10, which consists of two jaws, is arranged to securely hold alarge piece of meat 11 by clamping to the lower portion which is largelybone structure. The meat 11 must be frozen so that it is rigidthroughout its entire volume. The clamp 10 is secured to amegnetostrictive unit 12 which comprises a coil 13, to which is appliedthe high frequency energy, and a hollow shaft 14 made of nickel whichextends through the center of the coil and is secured to a flatsupporting piece 15. It is convenient and highly efficient to supportthe clamp 10 and its shaft 14 at a node which in this case isapproximately the central part of the vibrating assembly. In this mannera strong support may be employed without cutting down the efficiency ofthe vibrating element.

The device shown in Fig. 3 comprises a tank 16, open at the top, andcontaining an opening at one of its ends into which a transducer 17 ispositioned. A rubber gasket 18 is secured to the'outside of the tank andalso to some part of the transducer so that liquid within the tank willnot run out. The transducer 17 is similar to the one shown in Fig. 2except it is formed with a flat end portion 20 instead of a clamp. Theflat 'end portion 20 should have an area of at least percent of the areaof the side wall.

The tank is used as follows: An article of food 21 which is frozen to arigid condition is placed in the tank and, water or other suitableliquid is poured over it so as to completely cover the article of foodand also to be above the topmost portion of the transducer face 20. Thenhigh frequency energy is applied to the transducer 17 to cause it tovibrate and produce intense waves of compression and rarefaction withinthe liquid. These vibrations are transmitted to the food and themechanical movement causes a splitting and breaking of the hard fiberswithin the food volume, thereby tenderizing it.

Figs. 4 and 5 indicate the manner in which a number of vibratingelements can be applied to an irregular object. A supporting plate 23contains a number of holes 24 through which extend a plurality of nickelrods 25. The rods are supplied with small flat disks 26 for applicationto a portion of a food object 21 which is positioned below plate 23 andresting on plate 19. In order to insure a good and suflicient contactbetween the disks 26 and the article of food 21 each nickel rod issupplied with a weight 27 on its upper end. These weights, in additionto causing good contact with the food, act as a supporting node for thenickel rod. This means that the high inertia of the weights forces thenickel rods to expand and contract under magnetostrictive actuation sothat only the ends with the disks vibrate.

Magnetostrictive actuation is supplied by a plurality of coils 30 whichare secured to plate 23 and positioned adjacent to the holes 24 in thatcomponent. Each coil 30 contains a nickel rod 25 passing through a holein the winding and when high frequency power is applied to these coilsfrom any suitable generator 31 the coils will vibrate in a longitudinaldirection. The coils 30 may be connected in series or parallelarrangement depending upon the impedance and power characteristics ofsource 31.

The above description shows only a transducer which is operated by amagnetostrictive device. However, any other type of transducer may beused, such as; an air pressure resonator, or a piezoelectric crystal,such as quartz or bariumtitanate, as long as sufficient power can betransmitted at the frequency of the applied electric wave.

While there have been described and illustrated specific embodiments ofthe present invention, it will be obvious that various modifications canbe made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of tenderizing a normally deformable article of foodcomprising the steps of transforming said article from its originalstate to a substantially rigid state and subjecting the article to highfrequency vibrations while in said substantially rigid state.

2. A method of tenderizing a normally deformable article of foodcomprising the steps of transforming said article by lowering itstemperature from its original deformable state to a substantially rigidstate and subjecting the article to high frequency mechanical vibrationswhile in said substantially rigid state.

3. A method of tenderizing a normally deformable article of foodcomprising the steps of transforming said article by lowering itstemperature from its original deformable state to a substantially rigidstate and then applying high frequency mechanical vibrations to one sideof said article.

4. A method of tenderizing a normally deformable article of foodcomprising the steps of transforming said article by lowering itstemperature from its original deformable state to a substantially rigidstate and then applying high frequency mechanical vibrations to aplurality of areas on said article.

5. A method of tenderizing a normally deformable article of foodcomprising the steps of transforming said article by lowering itstemperature from its original deformable state to a substantially rigidstate, immersing portions of said article into a liquid medium, andsubjecting said portions while in its substantially rigid state to highfrequency vibrations applied through said liquid medium.

6. A method of tenderizing a normally deformable article of foodcomprising the steps of transforming said article by lowering itstemperature from its original deformable state to a substantially rigidstate and then subjccting the article to high frequency mechanicalvibrations having an amplitude which is sufficient to break hardcomponents in the article.

7. A method of tenderizing a normally deformable article of foodcomprising the steps of transforming said article from its originaldeformable state to a substantially rigid state by lowering itstemperature and then applying high frequency mechanical vibrations to aplurality of areas on said article, said vibrations having an amplitudewhich is suflicient to break hard components in the article.

8. A method of treating a normally deformable article of food comprisingthe steps of transforming said article from its original state to asubstantially rigid state and subjecting the article to vibrationswithin the range of audible and inaudible frequencies while in saidsubstantially rigid state, said vibrations causing tenderization of saidarticle.

9. A method of treating a normally deformable article of food comprisingthe steps of transforming said article by changing its temperature fromits original deformable state to a substantially rigid state and thensubjecting the article to energy within the range of audible andinaudible frequencies to cause tenderization of said article.

10. A method of treating a normally deformable article of foodcomprising the steps of transforming said article by lowering itstemperature from its original deformable state to a substantially rigidstate, immersing portions of said article into a liquid at a temperaturefor maintaining said article in its substantially rigid state, andsubjecting portions of said article to vibrations within the range ofaudible and inaudible frequencies applied through said liquid medium tocause tenderization of said article.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,629,311 Graves Feb. 24, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,592/31 Australia July28, 1931 OTHER REFERENCES Food Engineering, October 1953, p. 87, articleentitled Ultrasonic Processing.

1. A METHOD OF TENDERIZING A NORMALLY DEFORMABLE ARTICLE OF FOODCOMPRISING THE STEPS OF TRANSFORMING SAID ARTICLE FROM ITS ORIGINALSTATE TO A SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID STATE AND SUBJECTING THE ARTICLE TO HIGHFREQUENCT VIBRATIONS WHILE IN SAID SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID STATE.